Has anyone had any experience trying to remove a raccoon from crawlspace or attic. I have one (possibly a mother with babies) that I need to get rid of quick due to work that needs to be done in my crawlspace. I've tried a couple of DIYs, like ammonia around the entry/exit point, critter repellant and sound devices, all of which failed. So my next option is to get pest control to remove the raccoon by using male raccoon urine and a trap..........at the price of $300.

You can get a trap on Amazon for less than $50. Ask your friends and co-workers, maybe someone will loan you one. You may also check if your local government will trap it for you.

My retired father has turned urban trapping into a hobby. He traps an animal then calls the city's animal control to come and take them away. One year he trapped over 30 different animals (armidillo, squirrel, skunk, oppossum, raccoon).

Has anyone had any experience trying to remove a raccoon from crawlspace or attic. I have one (possibly a mother with babies) that I need to get rid of quick due to work that needs to be done in my crawlspace. I've tried a couple of DIYs, like ammonia around the entry/exit point, critter repellant and sound devices, all of which failed. So my next option is to get pest control to remove the raccoon by using male raccoon urine and a trap..........at the price of $300.

Does this sound reasonable?

thanks

I'd be happy to pay that if I had a racoon in my attic. The price may cover another visit if there is more than one but one of them is out at the time or something like that.

We had a racoon issue in the attic once . Sent the wife and boy off to Sunday church while firefighter neighbor and I went into the attic in coveralls, toting a big beatin' stick and a .22 loaded with shot pellet rounds.

Critter was away at the time, so we immediately sealed off the entrance with hardware cloth and never had an issue after that. Cost was $0.00

Trapping is the easy part. Transporting it to a new location and release is the key.

We tried this for a for a ground squirrel or whatever was tunneling in our front flower bed. I even followed some reviewer's advice to spray-paint it a lovely forest green color to trick the critter. We waited about a month with different bait types...at that point a small tree fell over because the roots had been weakened/chewed through...we called a professional. I think we paid $225. I still miss that tree.

FWIW- Had a skunk give birth under our sun room. Threw 10 to 15 moth balls under the sun room porch and that night we watched the mother carry two babies, one at a time in her mouth out from under the porch.

Also had a racoon move into our boat, and after scattering a bag of moth balls in the boat never saw the racoon again.

Edit- Also, many moons ago, we had a racoon in the attic of our storage warehouse. I threw a bag of moth balls all around the attic and never saw it again.

Last edited by BTDT on Tue Apr 25, 2017 5:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.

If past history was all that is needed to play the game of money, the richest people would be librarians.

I never caught a raccoon, but Havahart traps work for squirrels. I tried to catch rabbits though, caught one and 10 squirrels instead.
As suggested I would try the mothballs for a week, but then get the $300 help. That's right, you do not want stinking dead raccoon babies.

It is 2 trips to the house + work so $300 is not really unreasonable. I've had luck sealing off the identified entrance at night when a skunk that took up residence under my guest house was out carousing. Found him dead the next day with a head injury. Owl I suppose?

Jim180 wrote:Anyone trying to trap a raccoon needs to be careful. They may look like cute gentle creatures but they get a nasty temper when trapped and will bite.

+1

I've trapped a bunch of opossums and a few raccoons. Some opossums can get obstreperous, but raccoons take it to the next level.

We accidentally trapped a skunk once while trying to get a opossum. Luckily I had a teenager around who (after we Googled for tips) was able to release it. We didn't transport it, but he had a heck of a time getting it out of the cage as it had made itself at home

The only downside is that it requires killing the coon, which may be an issue for some. Their population has skyrocketed in the last 100 yrs so a few less isn't a concern. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raccoon

My farmer friend does $60 for setting up gopher traps and $30 per gopher. I've spent a few hours and $20. I think I got 'em
But I expect them to return since them gophers attack in waves.
IMO, $300 for a coon is fair.

Jim180 wrote:Anyone trying to trap a raccoon needs to be careful. They may look like cute gentle creatures but they get a nasty temper when trapped and will bite.

That is why the humane traps have an emergency release door at one end.

I have been trapping feral cats for TNR work for years and we get the occasional coon or Virginia opossum. When that happens, you take a pole (or very long stick), stand at the opposite end of the trap and raise the emerg. door.

That way, the coon or whatever undesirable you have trapped will run out that-a-way while you stay at a safe distance. The medium-sized Have-a-Heart brand of traps suitable for cats (or raccoons) run around $120-$140 nowadays so I very much doubt that $59 Bargain trap someone quoted here has the emerg. release feature. Don't buy one without it!

BTW, raccoons and skunks do carry risk of rabies. However the good news in all this - the rabies virus cannot survive in opossums as their body temperature is too low to support it.

For various service jobs, I sort of say to myself "how many people will it take and how long will it take?" Not to the minute or the hour, but say to the half-day. How many trips do they need to take to your house to complete the job? Then of course they have some kind of vehicle to run, have a stock of traps--they are probably durable but they probably don't last forever and so forth. And as others have said, releasing the raccoon is tough, and surely hazardous. Even a scratch from a domestic cat who's known to be vaccinated against rabies can be a serious problem. I don't know what hourly rates for services are like where you live. It probably takes one or two people a couple of trips to your house and at least one trip somewhere else, plus of course you are paying for them to handle the uncertainty of the job. You probably expect them to keep at it until the job is done which might be quick or not so quick.

Then there's the rule-of-thumb that says if you are paying someone $X/hour, you need to bill the client $3X/hour if you want to come out even what with various costs and the impossibility of billing out 100% of somebody's time.

Sounds fair to me, too. Beware of the add-ons, though. This was a mini nightmare for us a few years back. "If there are babies, the law requires that they all be humanely euthanized." Trapping takes time, and our (local?) law requires that the traps be closed if they won't be checked daily by the exterminator -- so there were separate trips to shut the traps on Fridays and open them on Mondays. This thing bit our dog -- and scared my spouse half to death when she poked her head down near the (open) crawl-space vent. So we weren't super-excited about spending extra $ for the most humane approach (cue angry response). FIL suggested solving the issue with "lead poisoning" but we're in a, shall we say, "overpenetration-prone" (i.e., high-density) neighborhood.

Raccoons also can leave behind "latrines" and their feces harbor a potentally lethal nematode. The good news is that, unlike us, they seldom crap where they live so those tend to be outside. But if there is raccoon sh*t around, it's best to have a pro clean it up. Sounds silly, I know, but this a real issue.

We also had all of our crawl-space vents sealed after this. The vents initially had a hardware-cloth (wire-mesh) covering but it was only held in place with two dabs of glue (!) and raccoons know to just push them right in. The replacement mesh was anchored with four corner-screws right into the vent housing. It's been pretty tough -- I see occasional evidence of tampering by tiny hands but no success yet. Raccoons are strong. Before I knew what I was up against, I rolled a big (maybe 50#) log in front of an open vent to keep any critters out -- and when I saw it pushed aside in the morning, I started to get a little concerned...

A raccoon will rip through multiple layers of asphalt shingles,underlying felt and 3/4"-1" plywood with its front claws and teeth to get in a attic ,separate a mother from her little ones in a cage ...you have one crazed animal ! Been there ,done that , $300.00 is cheap. In NY your have to permitted to trap and can't release anywhere legally .

Reinforcing a few responses, at least where I live, it is illegal to transport and release a trapped wild animal. Probably has to do with disease control. Also raccoons are particularly fierce when cornered or trapped. I've trapped a few unwanted animals, it's not a pleasant task. Paying someone to do the job for you is probably the best option. Or in my case with skunks, our dog takes care of the problem but then we have to deal with the aftermath for about 2 weeks or so until the stink fades. Worst time was when the dog escaped into the house and rubbed all over the carpet.

BTDT wrote:FWIW- Had a skunk give birth under our sun room. Threw 10 to 15 moth balls under the sun room porch and that night we watched the mother carry two babies, one at a time in her mouth out from under the porch.

Also had a racoon move into our boat, and after scattering a bag of moth balls in the boat never saw the racoon again.

Edit- Also, many moons ago, we had a racoon in the attic of our storage warehouse. I threw a bag of moth balls all around the attic and never saw it again.

Just be warned that you don't want moth balls anywhere where you might inhale the fumes. They're surprisingly toxic...

Seems like a fair price. If you dont like the price, there are suggestions above for how to do yourself.

I paid 350 for plumber to fix a hole in my gas line. Took 30 minutes. Was on Easter sunday, in the highest COL area in teh country. But that job seems a lot easier than removing racoons from the attic.

I tend to DIY but if I was in the business I doubt it would be profitable to do it for much less. If you think their are babies I'd ask how they plan to deal with that.

My favorite trapper story was about some girls that had a weekend cabin in the woods and would frequently find field mice that had taken up residence. They didn't want to harm them so they used a humane trap. One particularly stubborn mouse they caught held on to the cage for dear life when they tried to release it in the woods. Once they finally shook him out of the cage he scurried off, only to have an owl sweep down and take him away about 3 seconds later. So much for catch and release...

Oh, and if anyone ever gets a squirrel nest in their chimney it is NOT a good idea to build a fire to try to smoke them out. No squirrels were harmed, they were smoked out and proceeded to run throughout the house. Squirrels are very hard to herd!

Is there a problem here? Stench, fleas, some threat to pets? Coons are not my favorite animals, but I'd just let the family grow up and move on when they are ready and then block the access. Though I have live-trapped a couple of dozen possums and a hundred roof rats, I usually like seeing critters around. Who wants a sterile environment? (Well, unfortunately a lot of people.) Skunks in particular make good neighbors, unless they are digging up your lawn. In LA recently a mountain lion was living for a while under a house, and the owners had no problem with it until they knew it was there.

As to what to do with the trapped pesky critter--don't you have any enemies? Use your imagination.

reisner wrote:Is there a problem here? Stench, fleas, some threat to pets? Coons are not my favorite animals, but I'd just let the family grow up and move on when they are ready and then block the access. Though I have live-trapped a couple of dozen possums and a hundred roof rats, I usually like seeing critters around. Who wants a sterile environment? (Well, unfortunately a lot of people.) Skunks in particular make good neighbors, unless they are digging up your lawn.

Just make sure the raccoon has easy access in and out and wait for the cubs to leave the nest and then seal them out. There is no need to try to catch or kill raccoons, and especially the cubs. They probably won't cause any real problems if you just wait them out. If you feed the mother raccoon scraps in a bowl in your yard regularly, eventually the young will come out to feed, too, and that's when you can block their access.

If you are worried about any (unlikely) damage, then film them and post the video on YouTube with ads to cover the repairs.

Pajamas wrote:Just make sure the raccoon has easy access in and out and wait for the cubs to leave the nest and then seal them out. There is no need to try to catch or kill raccoons, and especially the cubs. They probably won't cause any real problems if you just wait them out. If you feed the mother raccoon scraps in a bowl in your yard regularly, eventually the young will come out to feed, too, and that's when you can block their access.

If you are worried about any (unlikely) damage, then film them and post the video on YouTube with ads to cover the repairs.

I would omit the part about feeding the mother raccoon from a bowl. Someone I know did that and the mama showed up just as the homeowner was putting out the bowl. The mama lunged for the bowl, bit her on the thumb and she had to undergo rabies shots.

littlebird wrote: The mama lunged for the bowl, bit her on the thumb and she had to undergo rabies shots.

I think thumbs look like a peanut in a shell to squirrels as they have munched on mine while feeding them peanuts. That is probably true for raccoons, too. I would still feed the raccoons in a bowl, but would look around before setting it down. I would not feed them on the porch or steps because then they will start begging at the door.

Also make sure the rest of the house is sealed so that they can't get in around the garage door, can't climb onto the roof from a tree and get in through a vent, etc.

I would pay the $300 if it's interfering with some necessary work on your house. We have small (exploratory) kids, so I wouldn't want the animal with babies hanging around my house with the kiddos. If we didn't I'd probably just let them grow up, move out and then seal the entry. Kinda sounds like what some people do when their kids go to college!

We got a free trap from the city, with bait food etc. The guy said it was "a federal offense" (really?) to kill the raccoon(s) and made me sign a document saying I would not leave the trap out in the sun (August in TX) or leave the animal for more than a day without notifying the city, and that we should call the city when one was trapped to have them come get it.

(Turns out we were leaving dog food out over night [thanks toddler] and a whole family of 5 raccoons was coming to clean up the mess each night. They're cute little critters, but as soon as we fixed the dog food problem they stopped coming around. Never caught one of them.)

I live in an HOA and had a beehive in my backyard. I could have called the HOA and an exterminator would have taken care of the bees. But I wanted the bees removed and not killed. After a number of calls starting with the California Beekeeper association and then to my local Farmers Market, I located a local bee keeper and he saved 20,000 BEES! I kid you not. I was so happy that I saved some bees. Good heavens, half of the bees in the world are gone, according to some reports. Those bees were taken to a beekeeper farm.

Cost $200.00 and was worth every penny!

Public School K-12 Educators: "Ask NOT what your annuity sales person can do for you, ask what you can do to be a Do-It-Yourselfer (DIY)."